what is your favorite swicther short (4 or 5) car train ?

Taint't nutthin' wrong with short trains :

Most of my "long trains" are in boxes.

Rusty

Without switchers how would the big trains get put together

I've always liked the Lionel semi-scale 0-6-0.  In particular, the pre-war version.  

Every now and then, I would run this short train on my outside loop.

Love short trains!! Pic of Long Island Baldwin VO with a shorty circa 1954

Here we go off to the slag yard!

George

Even on the big layout short trains can be fun. This is my BL-2 with a Schnabel transformer, boxcar. and caboose.

I concur. A short local looks great on a layout. A train similar to this one services the "Crenshaw Lumber Company" on the old PE/SP Torrance Branch (166th and Western in Gardena, California).

My favorite short train is my Lionel #1615 loco and work train I received from "Santa" when I was a kid. I love short trains  

John

Hello My friends, My favorite short train is Marx#1988 diesel switching locomotive with four small cars. I like to run on my small layout it is a lot of fun to run too. I also love short trains too. Thanks longbow57ca.

I love short trains too. Although my layout is fairly large (at 24 by 14 ft), I still use 027 curves so small engines and a few trucks are a must. I especially like running an 0-6-0 or 0-4-0 with just a single truck or van, like on a rural branch line.

WP posted:

My favorite short train is my Lionel #1615 loco and work train I received from "Santa" when I was a kid. I love short trains  

John

Very nice set! What year??

Casey Jones2 posted:

WP posted:

My favorite short train is my Lionel #1615 loco and work train I received from "Santa" when I was a kid. I love short trains  

John

Very nice set! What year??

 

Christmas, 1956. I still love steam switchers too!  :-)

My favorite, K-Line Porter (a 3 car train here):

Hello My Friend, I sure love your K-Line Porter train set it looks very smart and neat and your coil coupler works great too. Thanks for showing it. Thanks longbow57ca.

Here's a shorty from my layout.

longbow57ca posted:

Hello My Friend, I sure love your K-Line Porter train set it looks very smart and neat and your coil coupler works great too. Thanks for showing it. Thanks longbow57ca.

My pleasure!!!

Hello guys and gals....

one nice thing about short trains is that it reduces the wear and tear on the engines pulling short train and fits perfectly on door size layout ,lowers the cost too. keep the pictures coming guys !!!!!!!!

Tiffany

Gilly@N&W posted:

Even on the big layout short trains can be fun. This is my BL-2 with a Schnabel transformer, boxcar. and caboose.

 

Hello Gilly.......

for some reasonyour video is not working

Tiffany

jim sutter posted:

 

Every now and then, I would run this short train on my outside loop.

Hello Jim.......

I like your mixed short train, I think its cool !!!!

Tiffany

Joe Rampolla posted:

My favorite, K-Line Porter (a 3 car train here):

Hello Joe.........

This MUST be the winner here !!!!! for the shortest train in OGR !!!!!! Thumps Ups

Tiffany

WP posted:

My favorite short train is my Lionel #1615 loco and work train I received from "Santa" when I was a kid. I love short trains  

John

I hve the recent Lionel 0-4-0 in PRR Conv. mode.  Cute, lots of valve gear.  I can see why a child wanted one.

Tiffany posted:

Joe Rampolla posted:

My favorite, K-Line Porter (a 3 car train here):

 

Hello Joe.........

This MUST be the winner here !!!!! for the shortest train in OGR !!!!!! Thumps Ups

Tiffany

Hi Tiffany and Everyone,

This video (below) shows the Porter pulling a few more cars, with an air-whistle in a homemade shorty boxcar.  The reason I'm posting this is that the track (GarGraves) is bent to a 24" diameter, measured to the outside edge of the ties.  (I shot this quickly one year before I took it down, so things are a little disheveled.)  So it is a real savings of 3 inches.  Most of my O27 locos navigate the tighter curves.  So if space is an issue, consider the tighter curve.  Most O27 truck-mounted couplers are just at their limit on these O24 (O21.75 if measured from the center rail) curves, but they work. 

          Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! 

BTW, OGR published the homemade shorty tender (which picks up current for the loco) and cowcatcher project back in Run 227, Feb/March 2008, if anyone likes that traditional look.

Take care, Joe.

Williams NW-2  converted to full PS-2 DCS.

I like the Seaboard switcher shown above.

Bob  c.

Here's another shortie but goodie from the real world:

Rusty

Dominic Mazoch posted:

WP posted:

My favorite short train is my Lionel #1615 loco and work train I received from "Santa" when I was a kid. I love short trains  

John

I hve the recent Lionel 0-4-0 in PRR Conv. mode.  Cute, lots of valve gear.  I can see why a child wanted one.

Yes!!! And it's still my favorite!!! :-)

Joe Rampolla posted:

Tiffany posted:

Joe Rampolla posted:

My favorite, K-Line Porter (a 3 car train here):

 

Hello Joe.........

This MUST be the winner here !!!!! for the shortest train in OGR !!!!!! Thumps Ups

Tiffany

Hi Tiffany and Everyone,

This video (below) shows the Porter pulling a few more cars, with an air-whistle in a homemade shorty boxcar.  The reason I'm posting this is that the track (GarGraves) is bent to a 24" diameter, measured to the outside edge of the ties.  (I shot this quickly one year before I took it down, so things are a little disheveled.)  So it is a real savings of 3 inches.  Most of my O27 locos navigate the tighter curves.  So if space is an issue, consider the tighter curve.  Most O27 truck-mounted couplers are just at their limit on these O24 (O21.75 if measured from the center rail) curves, but they work. 

          Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! 

BTW, OGR published the homemade shorty tender (which picks up current for the loco) and cowcatcher project back in Run 227, Feb/March 2008, if anyone likes that traditional look.

Take care, Joe.

Hello Joe ............

My goodness, you MUST have the world's SMALLEST "O" gauge layout.  You're the WINNER here !!!  How long is your train shown in the video ?  I LIKE that tiny red boxcar and OUTSTANDING track work.  I wondered if my Railking NW-2 would go on those sharp curves ?

Tiffany

Marty Fitzhenry posted:

Williams NW-2  converted to full PS-2 DCS.

 

 

Hello Marty..........

I love those blue and orange colors of your NW-2. Those red LED marker lights look GOOD too.  I wish to do that on my Railking NW-2 if its a simple 2 wire hook up, I surely would do that on my NW-2.  There is 2 screw posts in the corners of the Railking switcher so I think its in the same location on the Williams NW-2.  I would like to use green led's for marker lights on the front like yours is and red led's on the sides of the bay window caboose.  How is it done ?

"Everything that breathes, praise the Lord !   Praise the Lord ! "   Psalm 150:6 (ERV) (Easy-to-Read version)

Tiffany

Hit me over the weekend and I can go over iot for you.  I threw this together one day when I caught up on repairs.  I do not have many of those.   MTH has a direct fit speaker and the board was a rebuilt board by George.  Short couplers, my own LED set up.  

I have 10 Empire State Express K-Line 21 inch cars and it walks away with them with no effort.

Tiffany posted:  My goodness, you MUST have the world's SMALLEST "O" gauge layout.  You're the WINNER here !!!  How long is your train shown in the video ?  I LIKE that tiny red boxcar and OUTSTANDING track work.  I wondered if my Railking NW-2 would go on those sharp curves ?

Tiffany

Hi Tiffany,

    The shorty boxcar is 6 inches long, so the train is approx. 29 inches long, and the surface area of the table is 24" by 36" excluding the black frame.  GarGraves bent to this sharp curve is a bit frustrating, but worth it!    

Take care, Joe.

When you're operating on a 4 by 6 foot layout, every train is short!    5 or 6 cars Max or 3 small heavyweights.  I like to think of them as "locals", and once in awhile I run mixed trains too.  My favorite switcher is my MTH N&W 0-8-0 that's a reasonable facsimile for an S1.  I got it "way back when" in a cabooseless set with 4 hoppers.  Although the pilot beam is bent from a few trips to concrete, the smoke unit burned up ages back and the whistle doesn't work anymore, it's still looks great even though it now runs on DC.

A short one with loads and one with empties:

pennytrains posted:

When you're operating on a 4 by 6 foot layout, every train is short!    5 or 6 cars Max or 3 small heavyweights.  I like to think of them as "locals", and once in awhile I run mixed trains too.  My favorite switcher is my MTH N&W 0-8-0 that's a reasonable facsimile for an S1.  I got it "way back when" in a cabooseless set with 4 hoppers.  Although the pilot beam is bent from a few trips to concrete, the smoke unit burned up ages back and the whistle doesn't work anymore, it's still looks great even though it now runs on DC.

Hello Pennytrains

Have you seen the pictures of my layout ?   I am trying to find some cloth material in green color to cover the space of 40 by 86 (to fold over the edges of the layout) something like green thin blanket and low cost , any tips ?   I am sorry your 0-8-0 went to the concrete few times but still runs now that is one TOUGH engine you have !!!!!!!!

Tiffany

Joe Rampolla posted:

Tiffany posted:  My goodness, you MUST have the world's SMALLEST "O" gauge layout.  You're the WINNER here !!!  How long is your train shown in the video ?  I LIKE that tiny red boxcar and OUTSTANDING track work.  I wondered if my Railking NW-2 would go on those sharp curves ?

Tiffany

Hi Tiffany,

    The shorty boxcar is 6 inches long, so the train is approx. 29 inches long, and the surface area of the table is 24" by 36" excluding the black frame.  GarGraves bent to this sharp curve is a bit frustrating, but worth it!    

Take care, Joe.

Hello Joe.......

did you by chance use a Marx boxcar but with modern trucks for it  the 6 inch red boxcar ?  The boxcar looks just the right size for your train, you really did a good job on it.   My short train is 68 1/2 inch long so its not really short isn't but your train being 29 inches long really is short !!!

Tiffany

Tiffany posted:

Hello Joe.......

did you by chance use a Marx boxcar but with modern trucks for it  the 6 inch red boxcar ?  The boxcar looks just the right size for your train, you really did a good job on it.   My short train is 68 1/2 inch long so its not really short isn't but your train being 29 inches long really is short !!!

Tiffany

 

Hi Tiffany,

I used a Lionel boxcar from the New York Central Flyer set, and cut it apart with a hacksaw, like I was slicing a loaf of bread. The cuts are easy to see in the photo below:

I used its chassis, just removed a section in the middle to fit.  Left the trucks riveted to the deck.  The paint job pulls it all together!

Take care, Joe.

The Greatest Train Show or something like that used to come to Las Vegas about every two years or so.

They had a portable set up that must have been 50-60 feet long. The temptation would be to run very long trains. When they had a 4-5 car short, it was fun to watch. You could see the train actually going somewhere, instead of just a continual train passing.

Love the shorts.

Joe Rampolla posted:

Tiffany posted:

Hello Joe.......

did you by chance use a Marx boxcar but with modern trucks for it  the 6 inch red boxcar ?  The boxcar looks just the right size for your train, you really did a good job on it.   My short train is 68 1/2 inch long so its not really short isn't but your train being 29 inches long really is short !!!

Tiffany

 

Hi Tiffany,

I used a Lionel boxcar from the New York Central Flyer set, and cut it apart with a hacksaw, like I was slicing a loaf of bread. The cuts are easy to see in the photo below:

I used its chassis, just removed a section in the middle to fit.  Left the trucks riveted to the deck.  The paint job pulls it all together!

 

Take care, Joe.

Hello Joe

Oh how clever !!!!!!!!!     I would be scared to try that as I never able to cut it straight, always crooked !!!!

Tiffany

Tiffany posted:

Hello Joe

Oh how clever !!!!!!!!!     I would be scared to try that as I never able to cut it straight, always crooked !!!!

Tiffany

Hi Tiffany,

     I can't cut straight either, so I make my cuts a little toward the scrap side of the cutting line, then sand the cuts with a piece of sand paper on a perfectly flat surface:

Take care, Joe.